Thursday 9 May 2013
Three Ways to Build Successful Manager-Employee Relationships
When employees are knowledgeable and have good resources, they are better-informed, solve problems more quickly and make more data-driven decisions. In addition to knowing what they need to know, knowledgeable employees have a better understanding of what they don’t know, which also can contribute to better decision making across the organization.
Employees who make good decisions experience success on a regular basis. This contributes to job satisfaction and empowers employees to solve problems and make more decisions, which in turn, will make them feel more valued, more loyal, more likely to stay with the organization and more likely to produce higher-quality work.
To produce these results, the effective manager ensures employees are in jobs that make the most of their skill sets, and provides ongoing development as job responsibilities and qualifications change. To do these two things effectively, managers must take the time to get to know their people by listening carefully for potential performance issues and providing timely feedback.
As members of the most-distracted, information-packed and fast-moving workforce in history, good listening skills have never been more important. Talent managers cannot assume they know what employees want. Effective listening can help everyone slow down and fully consider a situation before reacting.
When managers model good listening skills, employees will learn to seek them out when they have a problem. Thus, managers will hear more, good and bad, in time to give feedback that can make a difference.
Timing can differentiate feedback from criticism. Early feedback allows employees to make changes and can impact a situation. Untimely feedback, no matter how well-intended, isn’t useful and often is perceived as an assignment of blame or criticism.
Managers that provide ongoing development can help build strong employee relationships. Development includes providing time and opportunities for cross training and personal development and takes into consideration individual job competencies and organizational needs. Again, this investment in individuals makes them feel valued, can increase loyalty to the company and will pay off in higher organizational performance.
NEC reinforces system integration business in India and beyond
NEC Technologies India Limited a wholly owned subsidiary of NEC Corporation, is taking on a vital role in developing solutions, providing system integration and supporting global pre and post-sale operations. NTI, formerly NEC HCL System Technologies, a joint venture between NEC Corporation and HCL Technologies Limited, has formally started its operations from today, April 26, 2013.
KFC to launch boneless chicken Original Recipe Boneless chicken will debut mid-April
KFC is picking boneless chicken as its next big product innovation to drive sales and make its menu more dynamic, according to reports.
This morning the Louisville, Ky.-based brand of more than 17,000 restaurants worldwide changed its website to feature a countdown to April 14, the day Original Recipe Boneless chicken is to be launched. The chain is also teasing the 14th as “The Greatest Day in Chicken History” with two YouTube videos.
“KFC outside the U.S. is a more dynamic, big-box format that’s more akin to McDonald’s,” Novak said at the time. “There’s been a lot more innovation built into the menu in most countries outside the U.S., because Col. Sanders set the U.S. brand up with a small-box focus on chicken on the bone and sticking to your knitting. It’s hard for us to turn it into the multi-variety, multi-daypart brand we have in emerging markets. And we don’t have a franchise community as enlightened as we have outside the U.S.”
KFC has spent much of the past few years refranchising its 4,400 locations in the United States and recently indicated it had largely completed that effort. The chain's domestic same-store sales recovered to a 3-percent gain for fiscal 2012 after they fell 2 percent in 2011 in the United States.
In addition to Original Recipe Boneless, KFC has recently added products that feasibly could fit into the lunch daypart better or capitalize on consumers’ growing penchant for snacking and eating the car, including Original Recipe Bites, the Li’l Bucket Kids Meal, and relaunched Chicken Littles and Pot Pies.A combo of two pieces of Original Recipe Boneless with a side and drink will sell for a suggest price of $4.99.
The first commercial in a marketing campaign for the new item is set to debut April 14. The ad will be built around the tagline, “I ate the bones,” which is what a concerned customer starts yelling after eating a boneless piece of chicken without realizing it’s the new version of KFC’s Original Recipe.
For much of the past few years, sales at KFC in the United States lagged far behind those for sibling brand Taco Bell and even KFC’s performance in foreign markets, particularly China.
Marketing and new-product execution led to the chain’s erratic sales performance in the United States. In 2009, KFC’s longtime “Finger-lickin’ good” slogan was replaced briefly by the tagline “Unthink,” meant to call attention to products like Kentucky Grilled Chicken that failed to sustain sales after initial bouts of trial. Similarly, later rollouts of new products like the Double Down and Doublicious sandwiches produced a large rush of trial and media attention, but did not maintain sales levels.
Yet David Novak, chief executive of parent company Yum! Brands Inc. in Louisville, remarked during a second-quarter conference call in 2011 that KFC faced a larger structural problem of its franchisees adhering too closely to the brand’s heritage as a purveyor of only chicken on the bone.
This morning the Louisville, Ky.-based brand of more than 17,000 restaurants worldwide changed its website to feature a countdown to April 14, the day Original Recipe Boneless chicken is to be launched. The chain is also teasing the 14th as “The Greatest Day in Chicken History” with two YouTube videos.
“KFC outside the U.S. is a more dynamic, big-box format that’s more akin to McDonald’s,” Novak said at the time. “There’s been a lot more innovation built into the menu in most countries outside the U.S., because Col. Sanders set the U.S. brand up with a small-box focus on chicken on the bone and sticking to your knitting. It’s hard for us to turn it into the multi-variety, multi-daypart brand we have in emerging markets. And we don’t have a franchise community as enlightened as we have outside the U.S.”
KFC has spent much of the past few years refranchising its 4,400 locations in the United States and recently indicated it had largely completed that effort. The chain's domestic same-store sales recovered to a 3-percent gain for fiscal 2012 after they fell 2 percent in 2011 in the United States.
In addition to Original Recipe Boneless, KFC has recently added products that feasibly could fit into the lunch daypart better or capitalize on consumers’ growing penchant for snacking and eating the car, including Original Recipe Bites, the Li’l Bucket Kids Meal, and relaunched Chicken Littles and Pot Pies.A combo of two pieces of Original Recipe Boneless with a side and drink will sell for a suggest price of $4.99.
The first commercial in a marketing campaign for the new item is set to debut April 14. The ad will be built around the tagline, “I ate the bones,” which is what a concerned customer starts yelling after eating a boneless piece of chicken without realizing it’s the new version of KFC’s Original Recipe.
For much of the past few years, sales at KFC in the United States lagged far behind those for sibling brand Taco Bell and even KFC’s performance in foreign markets, particularly China.
Marketing and new-product execution led to the chain’s erratic sales performance in the United States. In 2009, KFC’s longtime “Finger-lickin’ good” slogan was replaced briefly by the tagline “Unthink,” meant to call attention to products like Kentucky Grilled Chicken that failed to sustain sales after initial bouts of trial. Similarly, later rollouts of new products like the Double Down and Doublicious sandwiches produced a large rush of trial and media attention, but did not maintain sales levels.
Yet David Novak, chief executive of parent company Yum! Brands Inc. in Louisville, remarked during a second-quarter conference call in 2011 that KFC faced a larger structural problem of its franchisees adhering too closely to the brand’s heritage as a purveyor of only chicken on the bone.
How to Change Organizational Structure
Organizational structure is the formal design of managerial hierarchies within a company, setting forth both reporting relationships and information flows. A company's organizational structure forms the base upon which operational policies are formed. Structure plays a large role in shaping organizational culture as well, and companies may find it necessary to change organizational structure to remain competitive or adapt to changes in the company, industry or marketplace.
Step 1
Involve employees from all levels of your organization in the planning stage. Solicit feedback from key front-line managers and employees to gain deeper insight into practical operational issues. Invite one or two influential front-line employees to participate in planning meetings. In addition to offering unique insights, these employees can help to keep other employees informed of the planning process while spreading excitement about the change.
Step 2
Communicate planning progress across the organization regularly. Send company-wide updates via email or your company newsletter to keep the change fresh in employees' minds for some time before the implementation phase. Avoid making employees feel blindsided by the change, especially if they are a target for downsizing.
Step 3
Explain thoroughly the reasons for the change, as well as the benefits that the change will afford to individual departments and employees. Hold at least two meetings to detail the change; one with departmental managers and one with your entire office or organization, if possible. Send out an email further describing the change and how it will affect employees at all levels of the organization. Use positive language as much as possible to emphasize the benefits of the change rather than the possible drawbacks.
Step 4
Lead by example in the change initiative and enlist your top-level managers to do the same. Publicly show your commitment to the change through your informal conversations and the time that you spend planning for and communicating the details of the change.
Step 5
Roll out the change one department at a time, if possible, to identify and address logistical issues early. Alter your change implementation plans if necessary after the first department is reorganized. Roll out subsequent changes rapidly to move the process along and minimize the change's short-term impact on overall productivity.
What Does Horizontal Organization Mean?
The structure of an organization refers to the hierarchy within a company. It defines the concept of subordinates who collaborate to accomplish stated goals. The organization’s goals and culture typically determine its structure, which influences the manner in which the organization performs. The allocation of responsibilities throughout the hierarchy depends upon the structure of the organization. Companies that employ a horizontal structure, also termed a flat structure, operate with few levels between managers and staff. Frequently used in small organizations, the horizontal structure represents a belief that involving employees directly in the decision-making processes and minimizing management supervision of employees increases productivity.
Value-Added Teams
Unlike the vertical organization structure, which consists of multiple layers, horizontal organizations break down into significantly less core groups. Typically, a senior level management group and a group of involved employees exist in horizontal organizations. The management layer holds responsibility for policies and corporate strategy; staff level employees work in various process-driven teams. Teams work independently, allowing corporate leaders to concentrate on the larger direction of the company. Horizontal organizations focus on the content and flow of the work; employees focus on work that directly impacts customers and, therefore, the company’s bottom line.
Communication
Interaction between employees in horizontal organizations leads to productive working relationships and overall good communication. Employees filter new information at the team level. Employees on different teams often possess a cross-functional understanding of other teams’ responsibilities This understanding reduces costly conflicts that sometimes arise between different departments. Team members tend to resolve local problems within the group and allow the organization to function and adapt well to an increasingly shifting business environment.
Corporate Culture
Organizations that operate using a horizontal structure boast a corporate culture, the shared set of goals for the organization, openness, coordination and positive employee relations. The culture values employees, both management and staff levels, and promotes ongoing improvement of employee performance. The culture of the organization focuses on empowering employees with responsibility and concern for their overall well-being.
External Focus
The horizontal structure creates conditions conducive to focusing on the external environment, the customers, rather than on internal issues. Companies define a value proposition that addresses customers’ needs and stays consistent with the organization’s financial goals. Employees, organized in groups of skills best suited to achieve the company’s goals, focus on delivering value to customers. Able to make decisions within the teams, employees, often incented by performance-drive goals, align their activities to satisfying the customers’ wants and needs.
Innovation
Companies that operate using a horizontal structure produce an environment conducive for continuous innovation. Employees who are empowered in their job functions and decision-making process combine for a collective intelligence. This structure leans toward group thought and, as such, maximizes the possibility for new ideas that reaffirm the vision, propel the company’s growth and increases profits
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